Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #5)

He looked at her, full of grief. “Please,” he begged as the walls around them started to crumble and fall. “Say my name.”

“Jared.” She grasped onto him desperately, scared of being separated.

“No, no more lies. Please. My name.”

Mina looked up into his pain filled eyes and knew what he was asking. Fae were tricksters, full of lies. They couldn’t be trusted, but here he was baring his heart and soul, wanting a piece of him to be recognized.

In that moment, their last, as the mirror finally shattered around them, trapping them together, she knew the truth. “I love you, Teague.”

Chapter 18

Mina flailed and fell out of bed onto the floor with a painful thud. She stared at the morning light pouring into her room. Her alarm clock showed a quarter past seven. Fifteen minutes.

She sat on the floor, her hands covering her mouth in horror at what she had just experienced. It had felt so real—even following their plan down to a T.

Ever had been stabbed and then destroyed, and Mina had tried to save somebody she thought was Jared and ended up dying as well.

But how? Someone else must have come in after her and smashed the mirror.

Was it a dream? A warning of something to come? Looking up in alarm, she saw that the mirrors were still intact. Mina and Ever hadn’t trapped him in the mirrors yet. In fact, Teague hadn’t even arrived.

There was still time. Not a whole lot, but enough that maybe, just maybe, she could save one more person before she died. This had to be more than a dream. It was a premonition. There was still another enemy to watch out for.

She grabbed the wooden bat from behind her bed post. She couldn’t risk losing Ever too. If she could just swing the bat and break the mirror, that timeline would be over. She hefted the bat, grunted and swung—but she pulled up short, changed direction, and hit the floor.

Screaming in frustration, Mina pounded the floor until her anger was spent. She tossed the bat on the floor and wiped her wrist across her brow, staring at the mirrors. This plan was supposed to save her life, but it would cost Ever’s. She didn’t want to sacrifice herself to save everyone, but she knew she had to. Destroying their mirrors trap was the only way to protect Ever.

Mina gripped the baseball bat again and swung. One by one, she destroyed each of the mirrors. Shards of glass littered the floor. She stepped toward the next, glass popping beneath her feet. She broke every single mirror.

Except her mother’s.

“Why mom?” Mina asked. She could just make out her own outline, blurred through her tears, and for a moment, convince herself she was talking to her mother.

“Why did you hide so much from us? Why couldn’t you have told us and given us the best chance to survive?”

Mina could imagine her mother’s voice answering, telling her she had the best chance ever—now—of saving not only herself, but her people, the Fae.

Angry tears slid down her cheeks. As Mina looked back up at the mirror, she knew what she had to do.

She grabbed her Unaccomplishments and Epic Disasters notebook and flipped it open.

“You are a new Grimoire. You are not made from Teague’s life but mine. No longer will you hold tales of my unaccomplishments and epic disasters. You will hold my greatest triumphs and happily-ever-afters.” She closed her eyes and felt her hands grow warm as power spread through her fingertips.

The notebook lifted off of the bed and spun in the air, before gently landing open on the bed. No longer a spiral notebook, the new Grimoire was a leather-bound journal with gold letters. She placed it on her bedside table, and on top of it the seam ripper. She hoped Ever would find it and know that she was passing the quests off to her. Ever would find the others and help protect her brother. Besides, she was better at being a Grimm and fighting Fae than Mina had ever been. She only wished she had thought of creating more Grimoires sooner, but they were made of journals. Hours of heart had gone into each book, and she had a suspicion that’s why they held the power they did.

Ever was hiding in a room down the hall waiting to ambush Teague. To make sure she didn’t repeat the dream, Mina needed to get away from the house. She grabbed a cross over bag from her messy floor and shoved in the dagger.

As she took off running down the stairs, she heard the closet door open. Ever called out in surprise, “What’s all the noise? Where are you going? What about the plan?”

Forget the plan. Her current plan was to get as far away from her friends as she could before Teague came for her. She ran through the kitchen and out the back door across the grass.

She looked at the watch on her hand as she ran. She only had two minutes before her twelve hours were up. Mina didn’t want to die, and she realized what must have run through her mother’s mind as she faced Death to protect her children: Love for others can make even the scaredest of souls become brave in the face of danger.

Ever hung her head out a second-floor window. “Don’t do it, Mina!”

She began a countdown in her head. When she only had a few seconds left, she stopped running and held her hand over the stitch in her side. She had almost reached the tree line.

“Mina.” His voice echoed through the air, taunting her.

“I’m here,” she answered.

“So am I,” he said from right behind her.

He was just as she pictured in her dream, wearing the same exact clothes, even the same exact expression of triumph. “I’ve come for what’s mine.”

“It’s in my bag.”

“Give it to me.” He stepped forward and held out his hand.

Mina carefully opened up the crossover bag and reached inside, her fingers brushing the dagger. “Remember what you promised. You’d leave my friends and family alone if I gave you the dagger and my life.”

She sucked in her breath and squeezed the blade until she felt the sharp sting as it sliced her skin. A burning sensation followed, but she held in the gasp and tried to mask the pain. She wanted to be the one in control, and this was the fastest way to seal the deal and protect her friends.

“Yes, I get the dagger and your life. In exchange, they go free. I promise. Now give me the dagger.” His eyes searched hers and looked at her bag in worry. He noticed how long she was drawing out handing him the weapon.

Mina lost her equilibrium and had problems focusing. A cold shock went through her body as she pulled the cursed dagger out of the bag and held it out to Teague. There was no mistaking the long bleeding cut along her hand from the poisoned dagger.

“Mina, what have you done?” She thought she saw a hint of worry flash across his face, but she must have imagined it.

He wanted her life, but he hadn’t specified how.

“Here,” she whispered, her lips trembling as she fell to her knees. “I give you both the dagger and my life”—breathing became hard as she fought to make her lungs work—“freely.” Then the poison froze her limbs. The only thing she could feel as she hit the ground was the coldness of the wet grass against her cheek.

Then her world went dark.

Chapter 19

Pain seized Mina, and she woke up gasping. Teague, face grim, leaned over her. Her stomach knotted, and she curled up in a ball to try and protect herself.

“Make it stop,” she cried out.

Teague cursed in anger.

“Kill me,” she begged. Never in her life or death—if that’s what this was—had she ever thought she’d beg Teague to kill her. But she meant it. “Just kill me and get it over with.”